Door-hanger



A. F. LARSON.

DOOR HANGER.

APPLICATION men FEB. 20, 191B.

Patented July 8, 1919.

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A. F. LARSON.

DOOR HANGER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 20. 1918 1 309,205. Patented July 8, 1919.

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A. F. LARSON.

DOOR HANGER. APPucmpu FILED mun. 1910.

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THE COLUMBIA FLANOGIAF" CD-I WASHINGTON, D- C A. F. LARSON.

DOOR HANGER,

APPLICATION FILED ma. 20. 1am.

Patent-ed July 8, 1919.

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INVENTOR.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW F. LARSON, OFPORTLAND, OREGON, AS SIGNOR TO PORTLAND INDUSTRIAL COMPANY, A. CORPORATION OF OREGON.

Application filed February 20, 1918.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ANDREW F. LARSON, a citizen of the United States of America, of the city of Portland, in the county of Multnomah, in the State of Oregon, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Hangers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to produce improvements in supporting mechanism for doors that are opened and closed by reciprocatory movement, and commonly called sliding doors, which mechanismwhen applied to a door is adapted to facilitate the opening and closingof the door, and to impart to it movement in a true straight line.

My invention also comprehends means for imparting, if desired, inclination to the line of movement of a door, whereby the door may be made to move automatically by action of gravity in one direction or the other. Consequently, by my invention, a door may be at will made normally selfclosing, or self-opening. On the contrary, if desired, it may be made free to move in either direction but at the same time to keep any position in which it may be set without tendency to move of itself in one direction or the other.

What constitutes my invention will be hereinafter specified in detail and succinctly set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure I is a side of elevation of one form of embodiment of my invention, showing a door supported so as to move in a true horizontal line and in a position midwise of its travel.

Fig. II is an edge view of the subject matter of Fig. I, regarded from one side.

Fig. III shows, in side elevation as in Fig. I, a modification of the door supporting mechanism by the addition of which the same mechanism may be utilized to hang a door so as to travel horizontally or along an incline. I Fig. IV is a view similarto Fig. I showing the relative positions of the various parts upon movement of the door thereof from left to right.

Fig. V is an edge vieW of the subject mat- Specification of Letters Patent.

DOOR-HANGER.

Patented July 8, 1919. Serial No. 218,218.

ter of Fig. IV, looking down upon it from above.

Fig. VI is a view corresponding to Fig. I and showing a modification thereof.

Fig. VII is a view of the subject matter of Fig. VI, corresponding to Fig. II.

Fig. VIII is a view corresponding to Fig. IV but illustrative of the subject matter of Fig. VI.

Fig. IX is an edge view of the subject matter of Fig. VIII looking down upon it from above.

Referring to the numerals on the draw ings, 1 indicates a door that is designed and adapted to move transversely across an or dinary door-way, not illustrated, in order to open and close the same. Such a door-way postulates, of course, the provision of a sup porting wall whose presence is suiiiciently indicated by supporting members that are exemplified by plates 2, indicated as securable to such a wall as by screws 3. The plates 2 are provided, respectively, with studs e which pivotally support each a lever 5 that is pivoted as indicated at 6 to a link 7 that is pivoted near one of its extremities as indicated at 9 to a supporting member 10 secured preferably to the top edge of the door. The links 7 and lovers 5 sui'lice in themselves to support the door 1 and to impart to it susceptibility of movement, upon its several pairs of pivots l, 6 and 9, along a line of travel that would be arcuate without provision to the contrary.

In the main, my present invention is found in effective means for imposing upon a door, supported substantially as above described, the law of operation that its direction of travel shall be in a true straight line in contradistinction to the arcuate line of Patent of the United States No. 1,219,826,

The device described in that patent represented an important improvement in the then subsisting art, and is entirely useful' and practicable within certain limits. One

of its limitations is that when applied to a wide door requiring for the door a corresponding distance of travel in order to enable it to clear its door-way, the parts of the supporting mechanism or hanger have an objectionable tendency to bind one upon another. Such tendency, for example, my present invention eliminates to the degree, it is believed, of practical perfection.

In my patent aforesaid the swinging movement of the link 9 corresponding to the link 7 aforesaid is modified partly by the action of its conjoined lever 5 and partly by the action of its companion link 8. By my present invention direct cooperation is restricted to each conjoined link 7 and lever 5, whose companion link and lever are only coupled to them through their pivots 6.

So much having been premised for the purposes of making distinction and laying foundation thereby for a clear definition of my present invention, I now proceed to specify my invention more in detail.

The links 7 are united by a bar 14: that is preferably disposed in a relationship substantially parallel to a straight line cutting the centers of the studs 4. The bar 1 1 is thus constituted coupling means a guide bar and to the accomplishment of its function as a guide bar is provided with a medially located longitudinally disposed guide slot 15. lVithin the slot are loosely fitted two cylindrical members 17 and 18 which in form may be bolts or rivets, that in function constitute shifting center members, respectively, to a pair of guide levers l9 and 20 that are pivoted to each other in respective pairs about those center members and are likewise operatively pivoted, as indicated at 21 and 22, to the lever 5 and the link 7, respectively. In order to enable the lever 5 operatively to impart, through the guide levers 19 and 20 and'their pivotal connections indicated, a resultant motion desired to the link 7, it is convenient, in the form of embodiment of my invention illustrated in Figs. I to V, to provide the lever 5 beyond the pivot 6 with a terminal extension 2 1. By this arrangement the shifting center member which unites the guide levers accommodates them, in any position they may assume in service, to the performance of the function, namely, of providing a fulcrum from which leverage may be applied between the members 5 and 7 through the levers 19 and 20 to regulate the movement of one member through the movement of the other. It is obvious that the links 7 being attached to the door are the ones which must obey the regulation imposed because the levers 5 are secured to the door-supporting wall and are relatively fixed thereby.

It should be observed that while the door is illustrated as hung below the supporting mechanism, the supporting mechanism will work equally well if the door be superposed above it instead of being hung below it.

In Figs. VI to IX, inclusive, I show a modified form of embodiment of my invention whereby a single shifting center is made to answer for the regulation accomplished in the other form of embodiment by two. In the said figures the single shifting center, although it too, like the centers 17 and 18, moves in a right line, moves in a direction at right angles instead of parallel to an imaginary line cutting the centers 4. Referring to the distinguishing numerals appropriated to the figures last named, it may be well to designate the supporting links by reference numeral 25 and the supporting levers by 26, for the reason that in those figures the members attached directly to the door are the elongated ones, those attached to the wall being the shorter. These features, however, in both instances, involve only mechanical and therefore nonessential details.

The links 25 are operatively united by a guide bar 27 corresponding in part to the bar 14 and constituting like it coupling means between supporting members represented by said links; but the pivotal connections between the bar 27, indicated by 29 and 30, are preferably located between the supporting studs at and the pivots 31 that conjoin the links 25 and levers 26. The levers 26 are provided, respectively, beyond the points31 with extensions 32 to which are pivotally connected as indicated at 33 and 34 a parallel bar 35 that works in parallel relationship toward and from the guide bar 27.

A direct means of operative communication between each link 25 and the lever 26 to which it is conjoined is afforded by a frame 36 braced to the rod 27 and having a two sided guide bearing 37 disposed at right angles to the bars 27 and 35. The frame 36 at its narrow end that carries the guide bearing 37 is slidably united to the rod 35 as by a strap 39 which affords not only means for uniting those members, but also a support for the opposite ends of a shaft or bearing pin 40 of a roller 41. The roller 11 fits snugly between the sides of the bearing 37 and serves for a shifting center member to communicate force derived from the movement of one supporting member 25 or 26 as the case may be directly to the other conjoined therewith. The slide of the roller 41 in its bearing 37 serves to maintain the performance of the function required of it during all relative movements of the bars 27 and 35 to and from each other.

I do not herein claim those features of my invention which are illustrated in Figs. VI to IX specifically but restrict my claims to the genus and one species of my invention disclosed, reserving claims to the second species to a separate application.

In Fig. III, I indicate means for converting at will a hanger constructed after the manner illustrated in Fig. I, for example, into a self closing or self opening door. Such means of conversion consists simply of an angle-piece 45 that is adapted to be secured to either link 7, one being, in practice, attached to each link 7. The deflected part of each angle-piece is pivoted to one of the two supporting members as indicated at 46, with the effect of throwing the center of gravity to one side or other of the longitudinal axis of the respective links 7 and thereby imparting to the door a tendency proportionate to its weight to move in one or the other direction.

In operation, the door 1, being supported from above or below as the case may be by mechanism of either type illustrated, the operative effect being substantially identical in each case, hangs freely suspended read}, at the touch of an operator to respond to an impulse applied to move it along its path of travel in either direction. If the efieot of a self-actuating door be desired it may be readily secured by attaching anglepieces 45 to the links 7 or such corresponding supporting members as may be employed.

I have shown embodiment of my invention in different species by way of suggestion of the generic scope of my invention, and to indicate that its nature and extent are not restricted to mere details of construction and arrangement or to mechanical features in any wise.

What I claim is:

1. Supporting mechanism for a door or the like comprising the combination with two pairs of pivotally united supporting members, and means for operatively applying one of said members of each pair to a wall and the other member of each pair to a door, of coupling means operatively disposed between said pairs, and additional means comprising a shifting center member operatively connected with said pairs and with said coupling means so as to modify the operation of said pairs.

2. Supporting mechanism for a door or the like, comprising the combination of two pairs of pivotally united supporting members, provided, respectively, with means for operatively applying one of said members of each pair to a wall and the other member of each pair to a door, a pair of pivotally united links for each pair of supporting members, operatively connecting the two supporting members of each pair, and guiding means for regulating the movement of the pivot points.

3. Supporting mechanism for a door or the like, comprising the combination of two pairs of pivotally united supporting members, provided, respectively, with means for operatively applying one of said members of each pair to a wall and the other member of each pair to a door, a pair of links pivotally united to each pair of said members, respectively, and cooperative shifting center members for said links, one for each pair.

4. Supporting mechanism for a door or the like, comprising the combination of two pairs of pivotally united supporting members, provided, respectively, with means for operatively applying one of said members of each pair to a wall and the other member of each pair to a door, a pair of links pivotally united to each pair of said members, respectively, shifting center members for said links, one for each pair, and guide mechanism for said center members,

5. Supporting mechanism for a door or the like, comprising the combination of two pairs of pivotally united supporting members, provided, respectively, with means for operatively applying one of said members of each pair to a wall and the other member of each pair to a door, a pair of links pivotally united to each pair of said members, respectively, shifting center members for said links, one for each pair, and guide mechanism for said center members, said guide mechanism onsisting of a bar pivoted to corresponding supporting members aforesaid and slotted to receive and operatively accommodate said center members.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ANDREW F. LARSON. Witnesses:

Josnri-r L. ATKINS, Howann 0. Rooms.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

